“When she arrived she got him to ask for farmland from her father. As she dismounted from her donkey Caleb asked her, “What would you like?” She said, “Give me a marriage gift. You’ve given me desert land; Now give me pools of water!” And he gave her the upper and the lower pools.”

Judges 1:14-15 MSG

Moving from Joshua to Judges. Joshua left his people with no leader. They had followed Moses out of Egypt, and Joshua into Israel. But now they were on their own for the next 300+ years. They were going to have to listen to and obey God completely if they were going to survive. Just like us.

If we are going to live our best life there is just one rule. Only one! Everyone makes it so complicated but it’s really not – communicate with God. Done. Boom. Mic drop. That’s the golden ticket folks.

The hard part is HOW do you communicate - listen to and obey God?? Literally and physically how is that done? This is one of the hardest pieces of any faith – going from rhetoric to action. But Aschsah who is the daughter in today’s verse gives us a literal example of how to listen to and obey God when she asks her father Caleb for springs of water.

When we pray to our Father God it should be in the exact way we want our kids to ask us for things. It is so annoying when a teenager shoots us a text that says ‘bring my shoes to school’. Um no. We want our kids to address us the way Aschsah addressed her father Caleb. This is how I imagine her talking to Caleb today if she texted him – “Hey Dad, thanks for the new hubby, he’s dreamy. I asked him to ask you for some farmland. Which you gave us and it’s awesome. Thank you so much - I’m super excited to raise a family there and give you some grand babes. We do need one more thing though to survive – can we also get some springs of water?” And then he gave her not one spring but two.

She respected the gifts her dad had already given her.

She expressed gratitude for those gifts.

She asked for more – she didn’t demand it or assume she was entitled to more.

She was specific in her request, she didn’t mince words.

When we are in constant communication with our God in the same way he will honor our asks. (Say please & thank you!!) He may not give us what we ask for – just like we don’t give our kids everything they ask for. But He will honor the gratitude, respect, specificities and clear communication with clear communication back to us. Our relationships with a God are as reciprocal as our relationships with our kids. But that means we have to communicate + obey the way in which we expect our kids to do the same.